This recipe for cherry clafoutis is one of the easiest French desserts you can ever make, simply perfect for the cherry season and is simply amazing. With a custard-like base and lots of cherries on top, sprinkled with a bit of powdered sugar, it is best served warm either as a dessert or even for breakfast.
The classic French clafoutis is made with unpitted cherries as the pits release some almond flavor. I prefer to remove the pits as it is much easier to serve and is the best way for kids too. In this case, just add some almond extract along with the rest of the ingredients.
For the base, you only need a few ingredients you always have in-house like eggs, butter, flour and milk. You just need to mix it all together to form a thick crepe batter and everything is poured over the pitted cherries. Bake until puffed and golden and voila, one of the best summer desserts is ready to serve. Give this cherry clafoutis a try and let’s enjoy this summer’s marvelous cherries in one of the best ways possible.
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Summer Dessert
Recipe slightly adapted after marmiton
Cherry Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 20 oz (600 g) fresh sweet cherries , stemmed and pitted
- 2 tbsp (30 g) butter , melted
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup (240 ml) milk
- 3/4 cup (100g) flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract (or 3 drops of almond essence)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For Dusting
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease a round 10 inch (26cm) baking dish with butter. Dust with about 2 tbsp of sugar.
- Arrange the cherries in a single layer; set aside until you prepare the batter.
- Mix eggs with remaining sugar and salt. Stir in flour. Add milk, vanilla extract, almond extract and mix well until well blended. Add melted butter and stir to combine. The result is similar to crepes mixture.
- Pour the mixture over the cherries.
- Bake for about 40-45 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Cool on a rack for few minutes while it deflates. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Serve warm or chilled.
Video
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @homecookingadventure on Instagram and hashtag it #homecookingadventure.
Wow! Looks so delicious, Ella! I love everything with cherries, so a BIG yes to this Cherry Clafoutis! 🙂
I just baked this one and the entire house smells amazing! I cant wait to try it 🙂
So glad to hear that:) So..I am curious if you enjoyed it..how did it turned?
Oh, I love a cherry clafoutis and yours is so chock full of fruit! YUM!
Oh my, what a stunning dessert! Seriously gorgeous presentation, all those beautiful ruby red cherries. YUM!
Do you have a good advice how to get the stones out of the cherries without a fancy tool like that? ????
just use your fingers or a knife.. maybe you can do that without cutting them completely in half.
Hi, this recipe seems marvellous, but here in Brazil is hard to find cherries… I would like to try with other fruit, can you indicate one? Thanks!!! I love all your recipes.
Cris
Any berries would work. raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, apricots or nectarines might work too. Hope you will try it out
Hello! Can i use frozen pitted sour cherries?
The frozen cherries may leave more juice but it might work.
I want to make this as individual servings (ramekins or small flat jars) how would I adjust cook time? And would be as good? Thanks
Sure, it will be as good in individual servings 🙂 you might need to adjust the time, but not too much.. check them after 30 minutes, if golden brown remove from the oven, if not leave them a bit more
very delisious.thanks a lot. I wish I was good in English.im Persian.i translate your recipies hard. 🙂
Glad you like it.. sorry for the English part.. not sure how much that "Choose Language" function helps.. let me know what you think of it
I made it yesterday evening and it’s lovely!
To my taste (and to the rest of the family), chilled is much, much better!
I only made a mistake, overbaking it a little bit (I left it for 45 min, but 35 min might be enough). For a first try, however, it’s fine! I left the cherries unpitted-still very delicious and not a hitch at all!
Already handed the recipe to a friend who tasted the clafoutis this morning 😉
Thank you for the wonderful recipes you post!
Yes.. we love it either chilled or warm as well. So glad you enjoyed it:) and thank you for recommending my recipes to your friend.
I absolutely adore this recipe. I love cherries and my neighbors know when summer comes and cherries are in season (and on sale) Krissy is going to whip up some cherry clafoutis.
That is a beautiful looking clafoutis and I love how neat the slice looks! I need to learn to make this dessert better. Mine usually turns eggy!
Thank you Kankana.. hope you will try this recipe and see if you like it more
Love cherries and this is something I would love to make! Looks awesome!
i am baking this right now, and the entire house smells insanely delicious!
Alexandra had asked earlier, how to pit cherries without a fancy tool… I used a paperclip! I found a video on youtube for “the world’s cheapest cherry pitter”! Worked like a charm, once i got the hang of it!
Cool tip :).. did you enjoy the recipe?
My wife is Celiac. Will it work with almond flour? If so, would the amount of almond flour differ?
I have never tried a clafoutis with almond flour.. it might turn ok.. just give it a try and see.
That looks amazing. Would it work if I used coconut flour instead of regular flour, coconut oil instead of butter and coconut cream instead of milk? Would the custard still set and turn out?
Well.. It might work good.. just give it a try and see..
I’m writing again because I forgot to do the mathe below. Not sure if you got my previous email. Can you freeze this dessert? Thanks.
I didn't receive your previous message.. I am afraid freezing is not a good option for this.. because of the fruits..
How or where can I find the cherry seeder used in this recipe? Thank you.
I just bought it a couple of years ago from a local store.. but you can easily find it on on-line stores as well.
I don’t have cherries right now. A ton of blueberries though. I’m thinking about making one with blueberries and use lemon extract instead of almond. I’ll let you know.
Cool.. let me know if you tried it out
What happens if you forget to put butter in the mixture? :/
hehe.. not a big deal.. it will still be delicious
Am in the process of making this dessert. It’s in the oven now. Can’t wait to see how it tastes.
So curious to see it you enjoyed it:)
My child is allergic to almonds. Would I omit the almond extract or substitute another ingredient?
You can omit it.. I've used it just to compensate the fact that I've pitted the cherries
I made this yesterday! Wonderful! Both my husband and I loved it! I watched the video repeatedly and finally had to make it! LOL! So glad I did!
So glad to hear that Vanessa:) It is indeed an easy rewarding recipe. Hope you will try some more:)
I just made one! The recipe was so easy to follow and the house smells delicious. Now, I’m just waiting to eat it.
Glad to hear that Olga.. hope you enjoyed it
I made this on the 4th of July and everyone loved it. I still had leftover cherries but not quite enough for a second one tonight. So I added a peach and a plum to fill it out. Pretty sure this one won’t see much more than a day and a half of life either.
So glad this turned good for you. The one with peaches must have been delicious as well.
Hi, I just picked a bunch of fresh tart cherries. They are not as sweet as the ones in the recipe. Could I still use them and would it be as good, or should I add more sugar to combat the tartness? Thanks.
Sorry for replying you so late. Did you try it out after all with tart cherries? Probably a bit of more sugar might reduce the tartness.
Made this today. It came out a little eggy and it cracked a lot- not sure what I did wrong. I used skim milk and a little googling says i should have used whole milk or half and half- that might be it. I also only had a 9.5″ pan not a 10″ over all it’s pretty good!
Yes.. I always work with a 3.5 % fat milk, probably that might have been one of the reasons. Hope you enjoyed the taste.
I just made one (had to cut the cherries in half because the pits were very clingy and I didn’t have a pitter). The sides rose higher than the middle. Could it have something to do with the cut cherries? I’ll try again but next time will use a straw to pit cherries. Haven’t tasted it yet, but it looks delicious none the less.
Seems it turned right for you.. maybe mine didn't rise so much to the edged because I used more cherries.. Also the cherries might be different each time.. this is a recipe that might not turn twice the same way:)
Will try to make this using rhubarb (omitting the almond extract) when I get some. My family is crazy for rhubarb and I think this would be a big hit.
I am curious about rhubarb.. I am just afraid it might release too much liquid. Let me know if you try it out.
We have a tree full of tart cherries just waiting for us to harvest! Do you think increasing the sugar in this recipe would work to make this with tart cherries? Thanks!
I think you can increase the sugar a bit, let me know if you tried this out.
This sounds and looks sooo YUMMY — bet you could do the same with blueberries too. YUMMO!
Yes.. you can do it with blueberries.. plums.. apricots.. must be a delight with all of them
my family is diabetic so i made it with Splenda instead of sugar turned out amazing thanks for the great recipe! 🙂
So glad you could enjoy this recipe too, didn't know that replacing sugar with Splenda might be enough for diabetics to enjoy it too
I made it with Better Batter GF flour blend, and it was delicious!
Glad it worked with GF flour as well.
I made this last night and it was delicious. Mine didn’t turn out right, though. After it was done baking there was a clear liquid in the middle. At first I thought the butter had separated but even after being refrigerated the liquid was still there. Do you think my cherries were too juicy and released too much juice?
Yes.. probably they were too juicy.. this is one of the reasons why the classic French recipe use whole cherries instead of pitting them.
I tried the recipe this afternoon and the result was very runny. It must be my error but I’m certain I followed the measurements correctly. The only substitution I made was using raw sugar instead of white. And I may have had a few extra ounces of cherries. Would either of these things account for the very runny consistency? It still tasted amazing after I poured off the excess liquid.
It might be the fruits.. maybe they just left too much liquid.. sugar doesn't make any difference..
Could you use frozen cherries if you wanted to make this when cherries are out of season?
I don't think it will work with frozen fruits.. they leave too much liquid..
so glad I found you when I was looking for a recipe for cherry clafoutis! I used cashew milk and put vanilla sugar on the bottom, it turned out great. Now I’m off to make the tomato basil tart. . .
So glad you found this recipe and tried t his out.. I am sure it was delicious with cashew milk too.. Did you try the tomato tart as well?
My mom was craving blueberries, so that is what I made it with. Turned out DELICIOUS. 3 of us finished the whole 9×13 pan of it for supper. 🙂
Wow.. so glad to hear that:) Never tried it with blueberries, will definitely try it too.
I am trying this tonight! The cherry pitter I found at target for $10. However to do without one I put cherry on top of soda bottle and used a chop stick. It works but takes a little longer.
Good tip 🙂 Let me know if you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Hello,
I have tried this recipe today, following the instructions to the T. Except I made one with blackberry and vanilla. It turned out well. All family liked it more cold than warm. 🙂
I would like to thank Ella for inspiring us all.
A blackberry clafoutis sounds awesome. must have been delicious Mila. Glad you tried this out.
hello! i want to know if instead of electric oven, can i use normal oven? if so, how many minutes do i need bake for instead of 45min?
Sure, set your oven Gas mark 4 for 45 minutes.
Great recipe!
btw I use frozen fruit of all kinds–cherries, peaches, blueberries, which are my favorite. No need to thaw (though a Mollie Katzen cookbook version suggests doing so, & dusting them with flour, perhaps to deal with the liquid issue)
no need to thaw.. and yes.. dusting with flour is important to absorb the liquid.
Fantastic Recipe.Tried it …Came out awesome….(was really wondering what to do with the so many cherries that our tree gives :).Thanks
I couldn't be more happy to hear that:) Hope you will try some other recipes as well
Hi there.
Your website is so great and useful .
I made this recipe but unfortunately it turned out eggy and tasted like an omelet although it looked very good.
Hmm… maybe try to serve it chilled.. or use more vanilla next time.. shouldn't't taste like an omelet even though it does involve many eggs
My daughter and I made this as a home project for French class lesson about the French Revolution/Bastille Day and it turned out perfectly. We had so much fun making it together as it was simple and clearly explained. We both also watched the video (which led us to the site to get the recipe) and feel that really helped us as we had a visual for all the steps.
We’re planning to make it with cranberries for Thanksgiving. Although I’m given to understand that even though it’s the same dish it’s called a flaugnarde if not made with cherries.
Thank you for this easy to follow and delicious recipe.
Can this be made with apples? granny apples?
Hello, if i try this recipe with apples, because i don’t have cherries, would it work?
If yes, how many should I use and how to cut them?
Thank you for your answer in advance 🙂 I love your recipes 🙂
I am a type 2 diabetic and this dessert has been a life saver for me when I need a sweet treat! It easily substitutes unsweetened almond milk for the regular milk (cutting out extra carbs) and works ok using almond flour vs. regular flour (cutting out a LOT of extra carbs). However, the regular flour sinks to the bottom of the dish, giving it a “feel” of a crust, whereas the almond flour rises to the top. I enjoyed both ways, but must admit I will be going back to the regular flour. Either way is great for a treat for the diabetic persons in your life. Never raises my blood glucose. So happy to see this being shared on more and more sites. Great dish!
For those asking about apples…. I used pears as a sub for one of these and it was horrible. Stick to berries (blue, straw, rasp, black) & cherries. Or to give it a change up, use lemon extract in place of the almond extract 😀
For those wanting to use Almond Flour – yes, you can, but it is a bit more “wet” and the flour rises instead of falls.
For those wanting to use Coconut Flour – yes, you can, but you will need to almost TRIPLE the wet ingredients. There is a Coconut Chocolate Cake I make using coconut flour and the recipe takes SIX EGGS per 1/4 cup of coconut flour!!! So you must adjust accordingly! Find a good conversion calculator online to help you do this properly. Good luck everyone with your trials!
For those asking: Can you use frozen fruits? ABSOLUTELY. I only use frozen cherries when I make this dessert and it’s perfect EVERY TIME.
For a twist: Use frozen strawberries or blueberries and change the almond extract to lemon extract for a deliciously refreshing additional summer treat! Lemon and blueberry especially pair well together!
Is it necessary to store in the fridge after it cools? Or can it stay on the counter? It is delicious, by the way!!!
It can stay on the counter.. but I like to refrigerate and serve it cold.. so so good
I don’t know what I did wrong but the dough is runny even though it was in the oven for 55 minutes….Any suggestions? Also it was too sweet for me so I will use less sugar the next time…I prepared 2 dishes and set one in the fridge to cool off so maybe the second one will be better.
hope you used the exact measurements.. also did you use fresh or frozen (thawed) fruits?
tried this recipe and the taste is delicious but the cherries literally rose to the top and the custard stayed on the bottom, basically the cherries are not “in” or “attached” to the custard so it is hard to serve without cherries falling off. What did I do wrong? the Custard was cooked thoroughly and cherries were pitted and thawed. Any ideas?
I am not sure what went wrong.. maybe try with the fresh ones.. it might work better
I have a lot of blueberries in my freezer should I thaw the first or can I make this while still frozen
I would use them while still frozen.. would also mix them with a tbsp of flour
wow… it looks amazing <3
Thank you:)
This was ah-MAY-zing! I was so enamoured with how it turned out, I had to share with the neighbours! It’s fun to be able to tell people you made a classic French dessert. Perfect recipe, great photos.
I am so glad you enjoyed this dessert too:) I love it
Hi,
I would like to try this recipe, just had one doubt on the Ingredients side, You have told to steam the cherries. That means just to take raw cherries and just steam it, will it be overcooked.
This looked so good and sounded easy that I made it for a potluck. I have friends who are diabetic; so, I substituted Splenda. It turned out so good that I have been asked to make it for our next potluck this Father’s Day.
This was so easy to make however after following the recipe to the letter and baking for an additional 20 minutes the batter around the cherries staid unbaked…..why did this happen
I made this but substituted raspberries for cherries and it worked out amazing! So delicious and reminded me of a dessert my dad used to make me. I believe you could make this with any kind of fruit, maybe?
I just made this and it is absolutely fantastic, shared with Neighbors as well Love it
This was delicious! I felt the texture I ended up with was a tad rubbery. I had baked it longer because it appeared unset in the center at 45 minutes. Is that to be expected? Does it firm up as it cools? I guess my main question is do you think I overcooked it?
Hi! I was looking at the recipe, and I was wondering: should the cherries weigh out at 20 oz BEFORE pitting? I imagine so, but I don’t want to assume! It looks so elegant and pretty, and I’m sure it’s delicious!
I bookmarked this recipe about a year ago and finally have a reason to make it! Excited to see how it turns out later this week!
I used dark cherries, they don’t look as pretty as yours. 🙁 But I used a 9.5″ pie pan, and OMG, how high it rose! It did settle back down, but for a minute, I thought it was a souffle! Well, on the sides anyway. the cherries must have kept the middle under control. I will be serving this in a few hours, will let ya know how it goes. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Simple and not to sweet.
I am making this tonight for at least the 7th time. Ever since I found your recipe it has been a staple early summer dessert. We LOVE everything about it. I have never had it fail in any way. Thank you ????
If you don’t have a cherry pitter, use a paper clip
I just made one regular and one with almond flour but added 1/4 tsp of baking soda. I’ll let you know how it turned out!
Sadly I managed to screw this up somehow and am looking for why. It turned out with a texture of rubber. I could almost make tires out of it! While I can’t stand people that complain and then list everything they changed, I did have a couple of things that weren’t exactly as the recipe specified.
My eggs were extra large so I probably had a little more liquid. I measured then sifted my flour because it had some lumps. I read through the comments and blueberries were noted as an acceptable substitute and I had a bunch so I used them. Also noted in a comment was to, if using blueberries, I should use lemon juice. So I used about a table spoon.
I baked it 44 minutes and it puffed up like a dutch baby pancake. As it cooled, it came back to normal shape. I let it cool to room temp. Cut into it and no bueno.
I’m not an inexperienced baker but never had a fail quite like this. I’m sure something I did was the cause. I’m thinking the lemon juice or over baked.
Thoughts?
I use the base recipes for many types of ‘tarts’ today since Stanley/Italian plums are in season, it’s a plum tart for old prunes 🙂
I love this recipe. I’ve made it with frozen cherries and with canned peaches in light syrup (drained) and both turned out great!